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Method Quotes

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Method Quotes

“Critical (i.e., separating) methods apply only to the world-as-nature. It would be easier to break up a theme of Beethoven with dissecting knife or acid than to break up the soul by methods of abstract thought . Nature-knowledge and man-knowledge have neither ways nor aims in common.”

Men World Way Soul Would Be Common Break Easier Aim Method Critical Abstract Theme Knives Acid Separating Dissecting

Book:The decline of the West

Source: The decline of the West

“Political agitation, by the passions it arouses or the convictions it engenders, may in fact stimulate men to the violation of the law. Detestation of existing policies is easily transformed into forcible resistance of the authority which puts them in execution, and it would be folly to disregard the causal relation between the two. Yet to assimilate agitation, legitimate as such, with direct incitement to violent resistance, is to disregard the tolerance of all methods of political agitation which in normal times is a safeguard of free government.”

Source: The art and craft of judging: the decisions of Judge Learned Hand

“If men got pregnant, there would be safe, reliable methods of birth control. They'd be cheap, too.”

Ifs Men Would Be Birth Safe Method Pregnant Birth Control Inexpensive

Author:Anna Quindlen

“A spurious democracy has influenced both our research methods (I am sometimes tempted to define "validity" as part of the context of an experiment demanding so little in the way of esoteric gift that any number can play at it, provided they have taken a certain number of courses) and our research subjects (it would be deemed snobbish to investigate only the best people).”

Source: Selected essays from Individualism reconsidered

“It is time to return to close reading, to a serious and painstaking examination of an author's methods, of his style. Do not be deterred by headaches. First of all, this would be proof of your lack of stamina. And then, migraines, piercing pain and sudden stabs at the temples are more likely the effects of syphilis than of hard work.”

Firsts Hard Would Be Pain Reading Effects Style Serious Hard Work Return Criticism Method Proof Temples Examination Headache Stamina Piercings Syphilis Migraine Close Reading

Author:Louis Aragon

“I don't believe there is one woman within the confines of this state who does not believe in birth control. I never met one. That is, I never met one who thought that she should be kept in ignorance of contraceptive methods. Many I have met who valued the knowledge they possessed, but thought there were certain other classes who would be better kept in ignorance. The old would protect the young. The rich would keep the poor in ignorance. The good would keep their knowledge from the bad, the strong from the weak.”

Source: Crystal Eastman on women and revolution

“We are living in a society that is totally dependent on science and high technology, and yet most of us are effectively alienated and excluded from its workings, from the values of science, the methods of science, and the language of science. A good place to start would be for as many of us as possible to begin to understand the decision-making and the basis for those decisions, and to act independently and not be manipulated into thinking one thing or another, but to learn how to think. That's what science does.”

Thinking Doe Would Be Values Language Decision Technology One Thing Bases Method Dependent Decision Making Excluded Good Place High Technology

Author:Ann Druyan

“It would be naive to think that the problems plaguing mankind today can be solved with means and methods which were applied or seemed to work in the past.”

Thinking Mean Problem Would Be Today Past Work Mankind Method Naive Solved Problems

Book:A Road to the Future: Address by Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ... at the Plenary Meeting of the Forty-third Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, Wednesday, December 7, 1988

Source: A Road to the Future: Address by Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ... at the Plenary Meeting of the Forty-third Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, Wednesday, December 7, 1988

“The Red Cross in its nature, it aims and purposes, and consequently, its methods, is unlike any other organization in the country.It is an organization of physical action, of instantaneous action, at the spur of the moment; it cannot await the ordinary deliberation of organized bodies if it would be of use to suffering humanity,[ellipsis in original] it has by its nature a field of its own.”

“I know not whether it would be too bold an assertion to say that candor makes capacity.... But in order to try the truth of any observation relating to the mind, the easiest method is to illustrate it by outward objects. If, for instance, a man was to sweat and labor all the days of his life to fill a chest which was already full, the absurdity of his vain endeavor would be glaring. In the same manner, when the human mind is filled and stuffed with notions brought thither by fallacious inclinations, there is no room for truth to enter: candor being banished, passions alone bear the sway.”

“If some Western politician claims he is in a position to use the normal Western methods to feed and clothe 1.2 billion Chinese, we would be happily prepared to elect him president of China.”

Ifs Use Would Be President Position Politician Normal Claims Method Prepared Western China Billions Chinese

Author:Li Peng

“The method of electrocution would be much better than the old method of hanging.”

Would Be Crime Method Punishment

Author:Meldrim Thomson, Jr.

“Imitation both unconscious and conscious is par excellence the educational method of the family. It is plain that a considerable part of the adaptation of living beings to their environment, i.e., of beings that are born plastic, is passed on from generation to generation through imitation. Were this not so, much if not all of the road traversed by one generation would have to be travelled by the next generation from the very beginning and without short-cuts. Consequently there would be little chance for the novel adaptation, the propitious individual variation, that constitutes progress.”

“We should never invoke the spirit of antiquity as our authority. Spirits are peculiar things; they cannot be grasped with the hands and be held up before others. Spirits reveal themselves only to spirits. The most direct and concise method would be, in this case as well, to prove the possession of the only redeeming faith by good works.”

Should Wells Hands Would Be Spirit Cases Prove Authority Direct Method Possession Peculiar Good Work Antiquity Invoke Redeeming Concise

Author:Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

“Some Englishmen, of whom Kitchener was chief, believed that a rebellion of Arabs against Turks would enable England, while fighting Germany, simultaneously to defeat Turkey. Their knowledge of the nature and power and country of the Arabic-speaking peoples made them think that the issue of such a rebellion would be happy: and indicated its character and method. So they allowed it to begin.”

Thinking Made Country Character Would Be Fighting Issues England Method Defeat Chiefs Germany Rebellion Turkeys Englishmen

Author:Edward Thomas

“A two-year-old can be taught to curb his aggressions completely if the parents employ strong enough methods, but the achievement of such control at an early age may be bought at a price which few parents today would be willing to pay. The slow education for control demands much more parental time and patience at the beginning, but the child who learns control in this way will be the child who acquires healthy self-discipline later.”

Source: The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood

“We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. Presumably the plans for our employment were being changed. I was to learn later in life that, perhaps because we are so good at organizing, we tend as a nation to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.”

“Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as often as it is practicable; and to make this custom the more significant, practice it first upon yourself.”

People Firsts Looks Would Be Action Practice Design Words Of Wisdom Method Constant Significant African American Customs

Book:Meditations

Source: Meditations

“We trained hard ... but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.”

“I would be misleading you if I made you feel that we could win a violent campaign. It's impractical even to think about it. The minute we start, we will end up getting many more people killed unnecessarily. Now, I'm ready to die myself. Many other committed people are ready to die. If you believe in something firmly, if you believe in it truly, if you believe it in your heart, you are willing to die for it, but I'm not going to advocate a method that brings about unnecessary death.”

“I kind of liked the method of the seventies where they would throw a little bit of money at a hundred different groups - not millions of dollars per group, but, you know, a few thousand. Throw them in the studio, and if five of those groups came out with a hit record it would be money well spent.”

Ifs Knows Wells Kind Littles Different Would Be Bits Millions Records Five Groups Thousand Little Bit Hundred Method Dollars Studios Seventies Money Well Spent

Author:Tony Visconti

“It would be idle, and presumptuous, to wish to imitate the achievements of a Morphy or an Alekhine; but their methods and their manner of expressing themselves are within the reach of all.”

Would Be Wish Learning Achievement Method Chess Idle Presumptuous Alekhine

Book:The Art of Chess Combination

Source: The Art of Chess Combination

“My contention is that it is impossible to limit Truth, for that would mean that you were stepping down the Truth to the individual, who is limited. It would be useless to lay down a crystallized method for everyone to follow.”

Mean Would Be Individual Impossible Limits Method Lays Useless Contention

Author:Jiddu Krishnamurti

“For time flows on, and if it did not, it would be a bad prospect for those who do not sit at golden tables. Methods become exhausted; stimuli no longer work. New problems appear and demand new methods. Reality changes; in order to represent it, modes of representation must also change. Nothing comes from nothing; the new comes from the old, but that is why it is new.”

Ifs Problem Reality Would Be Order Demand Flow Method Tables Golden Representation Exhausted Stimulus

Author:Bertolt Brecht

“God is going to reveal to us things He never revealed before if we put our hands in His. No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the way of doing it are revealed to me. I never have to grope for methods. The method is revealed to me the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless.”

Ifs Way Book Moments Hands Would Be Draws Method Inspired Something New Helpless Curtains Laboratory Without God

Author:George Washington Carver

“I am convinced that the act of thinking logically cannot possibly be natural to the human mind. If it were, then mathematics would be everybody's easiest course at school and our species would not have taken several millennia to figure out the scientific method.”

Ifs Thinking Mind Humans Would Be School Courses Natural Taken Figures Mathematics Method Species Convinced Human Mind Scientific Method

Book:The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

Source: The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

“I simply go with what works. And what works is the healthy skepticism embodied in the scientific method. Believe me, if the Bible had ever been shown to be a rich source of scientific answers and enlightenment, we would be mining it daily for cosmic discovery.”

Ifs Believe Would Be Science Spirituality Religious Answers Rich Source Healthy Enlightenment Discovery Method Cosmic Believe In Me Skepticism Scientific Method Mining

Book:The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

Source: The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist

“I am convinced that it is impossible to expound the methods of induction in a sound manner, without resting them upon the theory of probability. Perfect knowledge alone can give certainty, and in nature perfect knowledge would be infinite knowledge, which is clearly beyond our capacities. We have, therefore, to content ourselves with partial knowledge - knowledge mingled with ignorance, producing doubt.”

Giving Would Be Science Sound Ability Perfect Knowledge Doubt Impossible Ignorance Theory Capacity Infinite Method Convinced Certainty Probability Infinite Knowledge

Author:William Stanley Jevons

“I wish that one would be persuaded that psychological experiments, especially those on the complex functions, are not improved [by large studies]; the statistical method gives only mediocre results; some recent examples demonstrate that. The American authors, who love to do things big, often publish experiments that have been conducted on hundreds and thousands of people; they instinctively obey the prejudice that the persuasiveness of a work is proportional to the number of observations. This is only an illusion.”

“The fundamental characteristic of the scientific method is honesty. In dealing with any question, science asks no favors. ... I believe that constant use of the scientific method must in the end leave its impress upon him who uses it. ... A life spent in accordance with scientific teachings would be of a high order. It would practically conform to the teachings of the highest types of religion. The motives would be different, but so far as conduct is concerned the results would be practically identical.”

“If the question were, "What ought to be the next objective in science?" my answer would be the teaching of science to the young, so that when the whole population grew up there would be a far more general background of common sense, based on a knowledge of the real meaning of the scientific method of discovering truth.”

Ifs Real Whole Would Be Young Science Next Answers Common Knowledge Teaching Grew Ought Grew Up Accounts Method Population Backgrounds Objectives Common Sense Discovering Scientific Method

Author:Elihu Thomson

“I do not think that any thorough-going modification of college curriculum would be possible without a modification of the methods of instruction.”

Thinking Would Be Teaching College Method Instruction Thorough Curriculum Modification

Author:John Dewey

“For me it would be unhealthy to be a method actor; I'm not mentally stable enough for that - I need to separate my two worlds.”

World Needs Two Enough Would Be Actors Method Stable Unhealthy Two Worlds

Author:Emily Browning

“Sometimes I think that the only effective and productive method of destroying speciesism would be for each uncaring human to be forced to live the life of a cow on a feedlot, or a monkey in a laboratory, or an elephant in the circus, or a bull in a rodeo, or a mink on a fur farm. Then people would be awakened from their soporific states and finally understand the horrors that are inflicted on the animal kingdom by the vilest species to ever roam this planet: the human animal!”

“I never have to grope for methods. The method is revealed at the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless.”

Moments Would Be Draws Method Inspired Something New Helpless Curtains Without God

Author:George Washington

“It seems probable that once the machine thinking method had started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers… They would be able to converse with each other to sharpen their wits. At some stage therefore, we should have to expect the machines to take control.”

Thinking Should Long Seems Would Be Able Stage Should Have Machines Method Wit Converses Take Control

Author:Alan Turing

“Without competition we would be clinging to the clumsy antiquated processes of farming and manufacture and the methods of business of long ago, and the twentieth would be no further advanced than the eighteenth century.”

Long Would Be Process Century Method Competition Long Ago Farming Clinging Clumsy

Book:A Supplement to A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents

Source: A Supplement to A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents

“Do as you would be done by, is the surest method of pleasing.”

Done Would Be Method

Author:Lord Chesterfield

“Unfortunately it makes the unambiguous determination of triplets by these methods much more difficult than would be the case if there were only one triplet for each amino acid.”

Ifs Would Be Difficult Cases Determination Method Acid Amino Acids Triplet

Author:Francis Crick